Finding this hard...

I guess I don't understand foods, and the body. sugar, Insulin, BSL (blood sugar levels) highs and lows. Eating right, eating healthy, eating with in the RDA, getting my physical activity. why can't I lose the extra weight? Do I really have to eat 500 calories and exercise to burn 500 more? just to lose the weight? That's crazy! I wouldn't be able to keep that up! I want to be a size 8 again, This is crazy, I don't know how to get back to what I used to weigh...

If you're going to do anything in life, don't settle for mediocrity. Decide to do what ever it is you decide to do with excellence and you'll be successful and joyful, not just happy...

take a deep breath.The more you know the better it is true but you don't need to know it all. From what I saw you have a good diet. I am no expert but it looks good. They say 3500 cal = 1lb of fat loss but i say that is not always the case on the scale, be sure to measure yourself too. Sometimes it the strangest things that kick start weight loss. A couple years ago around Christmas I started making homemade Chinese food in January I notice i had loss weight. I realized the only change was the vinegar I was consuming go figure. I am sorry you are stuck and frustrated but maybe if you change a few little things they may have an effect. You know a different fruit or veggie, walk a extra block etc. Good luck

They say 3500 cal = 1lb of fat loss but i say that is not always the case on the scale

You are so right. I have been as much as 5000 deficient in a week and not lost an ounce. Yet at times I have been less than 3000 deficient in a week and lost 5 pounds.Over the last 2 and a half years I have lost 78 pounds. I can tell you I have not yet figured a way to average it out.I find that keeping the diet simple and not relying on any particular system (Atkins or whatever) but using your own is best.Planing the day before and sticking to the plan is the only way to succeed.Take your time and let it be a gradual weight loss so you don't sag and look even worse!Just because you are dieting it does not mean you can't enjoy all foods.

i feel your frustration! I have lost over 65 lbs over the past few years, and all i want to loose is another 20-25 and i will be DONE, but noooo i'm stuck at 155 and have been for MONTHS.. and no matter what i do I DO NOT LOOSE ONE OUNCE!! My thinking is.... COME ONE YOU HAVE LOST 65 LBS, HOW HARD IS IT TO LOOSE 20!!

Take a deep breath, indeed!You're making this much harder than it is. If I were you I'd stick to simple calorie counting. To begin with, don't focus too much on WHAT you eat, but on how many calories you consume. Set up your account here with an RDI (recommended daily intake). You do this by going to your diet calendar and clicking the little link at the bottom of the page. Enter your information as precise as you can, and go with the numbers you get. You will have a calorie allowance that you can eat every day. Do this, just don't go over. You will know how much you have eaten if you register EVERYTHING in your diet calendar. You can do this through the website, or using the phone app. It works wonders. By doing this, you will take all the guessing out of losing weight. You will know what you can do and you will be certain to do it right. Losing weight is not about starving yourself, or working yourself to death. It's about eating enough food that your body works at the optimal level, and thus burns more calories more efficiently.

Then, soon, you will see what foods will cost you more or less calories, find your favorites and simply go with that.

You've started a wonderful journey. It takes a little getting used to. However, you don't need to know everything from day 1.

Use the website, read all you can and learn from your (and everyone else's) experience.

"Losing weight is never about eating as little as possible"- Kingkeld."You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.― Eleanor Roosevelt"Do. Or do not. There is no trying."- Master Yoda.

I went from morbidly obese to being the owner of TABDIG - a weight loss coaching service that helps people worldwide losing weight. It's been an amazing journey. From October 4th 2010 to April 3rd 2012 I lost half my body weight - 80 kilos/170 lbs. Since then, I have had two cosmetic surgeries to remove excess skin. I have now quadrupled my strength, gained several kilos in muscle mass, and today I focus on building muscle, optimizing my diet, living healthy and helping people to reach the very same goals. I am stronger, healthier, thinner, happier! If you feel that you need help losing weight, don't hesitate to send me an inbox message.

mjac1998, the same really goes for you. If you are too low on calories you will NOT lose weight. I see that you haven't registered your food for months. I would recommend that you do this, you'll be surprised to learn how much you can probably eat.

"Losing weight is never about eating as little as possible"- Kingkeld."You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.― Eleanor Roosevelt"Do. Or do not. There is no trying."- Master Yoda.

I went from morbidly obese to being the owner of TABDIG - a weight loss coaching service that helps people worldwide losing weight. It's been an amazing journey. From October 4th 2010 to April 3rd 2012 I lost half my body weight - 80 kilos/170 lbs. Since then, I have had two cosmetic surgeries to remove excess skin. I have now quadrupled my strength, gained several kilos in muscle mass, and today I focus on building muscle, optimizing my diet, living healthy and helping people to reach the very same goals. I am stronger, healthier, thinner, happier! If you feel that you need help losing weight, don't hesitate to send me an inbox message.

Trainer in training here! You all are doing it all wrong. What you need to do is calculate your BMR, Basal Metabolic Rate, which is the amount of calories you burn while at rest, not exercising, to maintain your current weight. Then, you need to create a calorie deficit. Minus 500 of your BMR calories. That is the number you need to consume each day. If you can also burn at least 500 calories a day through exercise, that adds up to a 1000 calories deficit. But what you really need to do is calculate how many of the right calories you need in grams, your macronutrients: Protein, Carbohydrates, Good Fats! You should consume the recommended amount of grams per macronutrient, to add up to your total calorie goal. If you are eating you calorie goal but you aren't eating the right kind of calories, your body will go of balance, your metabolism will slow way down (catabolism), and it will start storing fat and start breaking down your own muscle tissues for energy to make up for the calories you aren't feeding your body. When this happens, your body fat goes up and your lean body mass goes down. On that note, don't consume ANYTHING with more then 9 grams of suagr, (including dairy), try to just drink only water or tea with no sugar, read your nutrition labels to make sure you aren't consuming the wrong stuff, stay away from artificial sweeteners as they also slow down your metabolism, and eat 5 meals a day, kid size meals. Have a palm size of protein with every meal, consume fruit only two meals a day in the first half of your day and get 8 hours of sleep. Stay away from processed foods, anything man made. If its not made naturally by mother nature, animals, plants, you shouldn't be eating it! Yes, turkey dogs are processed and man made! Here is the link to calculate your BMR so you can figure out how much less calories to consume and how much of the right ones to keep your body in an anabolic metabolism state, high.

Chriss, I have eaten exactly what I've been wanting to, daily ice cream servings, candy, pizza, greasy foods etc. through my entire weight loss journey. It doesn't have to be this complicated. Geek Girl is asking for help because she is finding it hard to work it all out. My advice is still - and always will be - keep it simple and accomplishable. That's the way to reach the goal. If you teach your way as a fitness trainer with a mission to make people lose weight, you will have a massive fail rate. It might work for people looking to get in shape as top priority, but for weight loss you are just making it harder than necessary.

"Losing weight is never about eating as little as possible"- Kingkeld."You wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.― Eleanor Roosevelt"Do. Or do not. There is no trying."- Master Yoda.

I went from morbidly obese to being the owner of TABDIG - a weight loss coaching service that helps people worldwide losing weight. It's been an amazing journey. From October 4th 2010 to April 3rd 2012 I lost half my body weight - 80 kilos/170 lbs. Since then, I have had two cosmetic surgeries to remove excess skin. I have now quadrupled my strength, gained several kilos in muscle mass, and today I focus on building muscle, optimizing my diet, living healthy and helping people to reach the very same goals. I am stronger, healthier, thinner, happier! If you feel that you need help losing weight, don't hesitate to send me an inbox message.

I've lost 7pounds in about 2 weeks, all I have done is watch my calories. I try to stay around 1200 or less. But never less than 800, in you go below that, your body will store and not shed. But some days for whatever reason the scales do seem to get stuck. Don't focus on that, just keep counting calories, and maybe add in a walk or 2. I can't do a lot when it comes to exercise, everything I do has to be light and low intensity. So I can't really rely on that for calorie burn. Just don't loose hope, try not to get mad at the scales, and maybe weigh yourself every couple days instead of everyday. Not weighing in daily has helped me, I started to obsess over it.

Hi I can see your comments on the 60 day insanity challenge page. I want to participate in said challenge, however, I'm only able to see the 5 mini challenges. I cannot find anywhere any info/instructions on what to actually do for the 60 day insanity challenge. If you are able (anyone) please advise. Thanks!!

Hi I can see your comments on the 60 day insanity challenge page. I want to participate in said challenge, however, I'm only able to see the 5 mini challenges. I cannot find anywhere any info/instructions on what to actually do for the 60 day insanity challenge. If you are able (anyone) please advise. Thanks!!

geekgirl9561, it's okay, a lot of us have been there! It is totally frustrating I know. There is a lot of information to digest. My suggestion is maybe joining a challenge group that can help guide you along the way. You can get the support of others and get guidance on how to eat and what to eat. I have started one here in FatSecret for INSANITY. It's called the INSANITY 60 DAY TOTAL BODY CONDITIONING. We will be working out to the Insanity DVD program and following along the nutrition guide. Is that a program that you are familiar with? If something like this interests you we'd love to have you in the group. If you need the INSANITY DVD program I can help with that too, Just let me know.

trainer, I took nutrition and PT classes too. I am finding all this difficult. It has to be more simple as Kingkeld is saying. How can one achieve this without giving up on life? No, I want to be able to have a taco with my family, and a piece of home made chocolate cake my daughter made. I want to enjoy life. "have my cake and eat it to" Other people can, why the heck cant I? not to mention, I dont want to lose my curves. Some of what I'm going through, I'm convinced, has to do with my age and hormones too. I'm almost 50. I dont expect to be a slim size 8 anymore, but I'd like to feel comfortable again. and I dont want to "sag". ew! I think losing slowly is right, and I'm not up for being a weight lifter, or going to the gym and being a slave to working out. Life is short. No one did all this back in the day! I thank you all for your support, and feed back, and suggestions. really, all of you. Thank you for the time, and support. it's huge in getting to the goal, for me that means weighing 20-25 lbs less by November for my daughters wedding. My ex and his g/f will be there and damn if I better look good! lol (even if its just for my own self confidence.

If you're going to do anything in life, don't settle for mediocrity. Decide to do what ever it is you decide to do with excellence and you'll be successful and joyful, not just happy...

Geekgirl, it does seem complicated at times but both the trainer and Kingkeld have their points. I am a studier, so I have read up on all of the trainer's recommendations and understand them and try to follow those recommendations to a degree, but like Kingkeld, I just want to keep it simple too. There is a happy medium. Eat healthy foods, maybe shopping only around the outside of a supermarket where everything is whole and natural mostly--nothing boxed or processed. Have the taco, but only have one. Have the cake, but only one piece and make that your treat for the week. And exercise a little every day. Notice I didn't say kill yourself exercising. As a person recovering from two major surgeries, I have learned that it doesn't take a lot to get stronger. It does take diligence though. You do need to make it a regular part of your week. I make sure I get in at least 4 days of exercise and I am up to 40 minutes for each session. And I mix it up a lot. I do go to a gym once or twice a week and I do swim twice a week. But sometimes I have to miss a day and so I do a walk around the park or exercise with a video at home. I try not to get bored and I never exercise to the point where I hate it. If you don't like it, you won't do it long term. Just find a few things you like to do, but don't overdo them. You will get there. I must say though, I have learned that for me, going without exercise is a recipe for failure. I've said this before. I got here kicking and screaming. I don't love exercise. But I have been doing it regularly for 4 months now and I feel so much better. Good luck. I hope you accomplish your goals. I know how hard it is. But it is so worth it.

Following along Pec's thoughts and what has been said there is a way to find a happy medium. I am a personal trainer and I know that what chris said does help tremendously but like Pec said if you go at to hard you won't stick to it and you'll just yo-yo. You have to find what works for you.

Knowing your BMR is great but then you still have to add for exercise. If you reduce your calories too much you'll stress, you'll hold on to fat and then you'll get discouraged.

Think of your goal. You want to lose 20lbs by November right? You can expect to loose at least 1lb per week with exercise and healthy eating. And that kind of gradual weight loss means you'll keep it off as well. That goal will give you the push to do a little more for yourself. And just think, regardless of the number you'll feel great with what you've accomplished. Just imagine walking into that wedding with the confidence you hope to gain from losing weight. You'll get there if you want it enough.

Start with small changes like Pec suggested. If there's one thing that's particularly setting you back start there. For me it was cheese, I never really ate cheese until my toddler started to get really into them. That was the first to cut out just because i don't really need it or care for it anyways.

When you don't exercise on a certain day, eat closer to your BMR but not exactly. When you exercises (strenuously especially) do eat a little more healthy protein sources and carbs but still go a little easy on the fats. What you'll do is tell your body that it doesn't have to hold onto your fat, your emergency fuel, because you're caring for your body by fueling it. Then you'll start losing the weight. But as my instructor once said, our bodies work like a season. If flowers decided to bloom on the first warm day in January they'd die too soon. Keep it consistent and soon the fat will shed. The scale doesn't seem to move as much as we get older (I'll be 32 but I noticed this at 27!) but it will move. And I know what you mean about skin sagging, it's the reason I weight train and aim for the 1lb a week. It takes 6 wks for the skin to 'reguvinate' when you do things to fast you don't give your body the opportunity to do that.

Remember to eat within 45 min of exercise. Do exercise you enjoy. Just know that weight training creates muscles and increases your bmr. It's your muscles that will utilize what you eat and it's your safety net on the occasional events that inspire more eating. Maybe consider Pilates or Yoga. In any event, once you get to your weight don't think you can go back to old eating habits, you have to maintain. Be mindful of what you eat and exercise moderately. If you're not exercising you just have to eat less.

Use your body and food to work for you, for example eat some food and stop after a few bites. We tend to eat too fast and not let our bodies tell our mind that "Oh, i'm not so hungry anymore, food is coming." Sit and enjoy your food, smell it, look at it, really taste it. Taste certain subtleties in it. Don't fight with your food, work with it and enjoy it.

ChristinaO65 wrote: I don't eat too much during the day, but once I get home at night I start munching away, and it is hard for me to stay within my calorie goals. For me what really helps is taking ...

Probably literally no carbohydrates, except for a few veggies (no starches) and tons tons of water will be the best way you can eat! Also will have to exercise like crazy to lose that amount of weight ...